The March Hare: Summer '03
Issue 37

Bang! * Member Bio: Andra * DR Invaded by Koreans * The Common House Goes Up... * Eco-groovy Gas Stations? Choosing Where to Fill Up * Summer Puzzler * Nature Corner

Come see our past issues for lots of Dancing Rabbit information.

Bang!

Gardening. Construction. Heat. Mosquitoes. Fireflies. Visitors. Work. It's summer!

We're right in the middle of the hard-work season at Dancing Rabbit. The gardens are going ninety-to-nothing, the Common House is shooting up like a weed, and everyone seems to have ten projects going on simultaneously. Luckily, our population has swelled as well (recently topping 30) to help cover all that needs doing.

Construction is certainly the word of the day, with Ted and Sara building a foundation (including a cistern), Thomas starting a thatched hogan, and Bluestem food co-op getting ready to occupy their new kitchen.

One thing that has been gratifying this year is the relative lack of ticks. It's been rather nice to be able to walk around in tall grass and only find a few. A year ago it would have been more like a few dozen.

Thomas, Jibran, and the new earthen bread oven

Nature hasn't always been so kind. On July 8th, we got nearly five inches of rain in twelve hours! The copious rain played havoc with the enormous hole that the Skyhouse folks had dug for their cistern, and they ended up having to fill it back in the next day in order to protect the building's foundation. A few weeks before that, lightning hit the roof of the Bluestem kitchen while Tom was inside working on the building, frying the just-installed wiring. The blast knocked him down onto the floor; but he escaped unharmed, though a bit shaken. On July 9th, a thunderstorm with high winds knocked out the top of the cottonwood by the common trailer, tore the roof off the Skyhouse toolshed, and knocked down some newly framed Common House walls. No people were hurt, and it only set the Common House crew back by one day.

Along with the work, we've had fun, too. 30-odd people went on a canoe trip on the Des Moines River for Tom and Cecil's birthdays on the 4th of July. Choir singing on the deck of Skyhouse has become a semi-regular occurrence, ultimate frisbee games take place both after dinner and before breakfast, and the pond has stayed cool enough to provide a much-needed refreshing dip. Whew!

Bang! * Member Bio: Andra * DR Invaded by Koreans * The Common House Goes Up... * Eco-groovy Gas Stations? Choosing Where to Fill Up * Summer Puzzler * Nature Corner